Chester Riverkeeper

The Chester RIVERKEEPER®is part of ShoreRivers that employs four Riverkeepers, Choptank, Miles-Wye, Chester and Sassafras Riverkeepers, who regularly patrol their rivers and tributaries, are ready to combat illegal pollution, and serve as guardians for these living resources. ShoreRivers is a merger of these Riverkeeper programs that occured in 2018 and also employs other scientists, outreach coordinators, and legal staff, all of whom strive to work at every level to improve and protect our rivers.

Chester RIVERKEEPER® Tim Trumbauer became the Riverkeeper in November 2017 when Isabel Hardesty became Regional Director for ShoreRivers. An Eastern Shore native, Tim Trumbauer grew up on the banks of Rosin Creek fishing, sailing, and swamping his father's rowboat. As Chester Riverkeeper, Tim is dedicated to protecting the place he loves the most - the Chester River. He previously volunteered on the Chester River Association's (a ShoreRivers legacy organization) Science and Tech Committee and as a Chester Tester. Tim has a degree in environmental science from UMBC and his 15 years of professional experience includes water quality monitoring, environmental restoration, environmental policy, communications, and management.

The Chester River represents the nexus of productive land and water. A brackish tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, the Chester’s landscape historically has been dominated by agricultural land and punctuated with small towns and villages. The Chester’s 368 square mile watershed is home to oysters, catfish, striped bass, diamondback terrapin, blue heron, perch, and the famed Chesapeake blue crab.

While beautiful on the surface, a closer looks reveals that the Chester River is at risk from pollution. Algal blooms fueled by nutrient pollution create de-oxygenated dead zones and associated fish kills. Sediment pollution smothers oysters and clouds the water blocking sunlight to habitat-creating submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). Sources of pollution include poorly managed farms, failing septic systems, and untreated stormwater. Unchecked development and suburbanization increasingly are threats to our river and our way of life.

But there is reason for hope. ShoreRivers and the Chester Riverkeeper are working tirelessly to protect and restore the Chester River. We are documenting small but steady improvements in water quality. (Click here to download the most recent Chester River Report Card.) Nutrient and sediment pollution are decreasing in many areas, and SAV has taken root providing critical habitat. Together, we can achieve our vision of a healthy Chester River.

Advocacy and Enforcement

ShoreRivers advocates for your waterways in a number of ways—developing and influencing state and local policy, lobbying for beneficial state legislation and regulatory change, testifying at bill hearings in Annapolis, working with our county commissioners to effect positive change, and reaching out to our members to call and write to their elected officials. We work on the local, state, and federal level to ensure that laws and regulations reflect what is best for the health of Eastern Shore waterways. Our Riverkeepers also regularly patrol our waterways - monitoring river health, identifying pollution hot spots that need to be addressed, and looking for illegal pollution sources. When necessary we take legal action to curtail illegal polluters.

Recent efforts include:

Helping develop and support legislation to protect our oyster sanctuaries

Testifying in support of the Phosphorous Management Tool and Poultry Litter Management Act

Applying for a No Discharge Zone in the Chester River

Opposing in court a major development project in Kent Island’s critical area

Agriculture

ShoreRivers is recognized as a leader in working collaboratively with farmers to solve problems of nutrient and sediment loss to waterways from agriculture. We are an incubator for new ideas and technologies for best farming practices that benefit farmers and our Eastern Shore waterways.

Recent accomplishments include:

Decreasing fertilizer loss from farm fields by piloting on-farm application of new technology on 24,000 acres to variably apply fertilizer only where, and in the amounts, it is needed

Increasing buffers on farms by advancing markets for an alternative crop of native grass for marginally productive areas of fields

Convening an annual community event, attended by more than 350 citizens, for farmers and non-farmers to voice concern about pollution from agriculture and discuss potential solutions

Restoration

ShoreRivers is a leader in designing, funding, and managing major restoration projects on agricultural lands, on public county-owned properties, in urban areas, at schools, colleges, and churches, and with private landowners to reduce the sediment and nutrients that pollute our waterways. They have in-house technical expertise and work with engineers, contractors, local governments, and landowners to implement strategic restoration projects throughout our watershed. ShoreRivers is certified by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation as a Technical Service Provider.

installing Maryland’s first nutrient removing bioreactors on agricultural land

planting over 10,000 native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers

growing 200,000 oysters for sanctuaries on the Wye River, in Langford Bay on the Chester, and near Love Point

installing living shorelines

installing 27 acres of wetlands and 350 acres of native riverine buffer as part of the Natural Lands Project

retrofitting much of the stormwater infrastructure at Chesapeake College and Gunston School

initiating a multi-faceted conservation drainage program for the Eastern Shore

Oyster Restoration

ShoreRivers supports native oyster restoration. Each native oysters filters about 50 gallons of river water per day, so their resurgence is an essential component of river health. Growing oysters gives citizen volunteers an opportunity to learn about our river and to be a part of the effort to restore it. The Marylanders Grow Oysters (MGO) program is a collaboration between ShoreRivers, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Horn Point Lab, the Oyster Recovery Partnership, and Washington College.

Science and Monitoring

From Cecilton to Cambridge and everywhere in between, ShoreRivers staff and our army of volunteer citizen scientists monitor water quality at nearly 200 stations throughout the Chester, Choptank, Miles-Wye, and Sassafras River watersheds. We evaluate the water for common indicators, including dissolved oxygen, nutrient pollution, algae, pH, and clarity. In addition, they publish bacteria results in the SwimGuide and just kick-started an Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV) monitoring program. They post our monitoring data for public use on our Digital Atlas (coming soon). We use our monitoring data to develop our annual Report Cards, to track the trends in water quality in our rivers, to identify and mitigate pollution sources, and to strategically prioritize restoration efforts. Our data is relied on by state and federal agencies and is used to support our policy advocacy efforts region-wide.